1. Technical Field
This invention relates to blast furnace troughs which are intermediate vessels into which molten metal is poured and from which the molten metal is transferred to hot metal runners or continuous casters. The trough allows some of the undesirable non-metallic inclusions to separate from the hot metal. The use of a trough reduces splashing and allows better control of the pouring rate.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The known similar prior art devices comprise tundish boxes and hot metal ladles which are usually open topped metal vessels with refractory brick linings. The tundish boxes have one or more pouring nozzles therein and the ladles have pouring spouts. See for example U.S. Pat. Nos. 3,203,689, 4,194,730, 4,012,029 and 1,681,943.
In U.S. Pat. No. 1,681,943, a ladle lining is disclosed wherein the lining is formed of a one-piece body placed directly against the inner surface of the metal ladle.
U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,194,730 and 4,012,029 disclose slabs or shaped inserts of the same density.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,203,689 discloses a refractory lined tundish with one or more ceramic shell liners of the same density placed therein.
An expendable tundish liner is shown in my prior U.S. Pat. No. 3,955,721.
The present invention comprises a combination metal trough, insulating material and an expendible liner therefor formed of several integral layers of refractory material of different densities and having a predetermined wear factor so that the life of the liner and its wear can be observed visually. The metal trough may alternately be a refractory shape.